True Perseverance

The following day when Ruth was allowed visitors by the hospital, the pastor of her church who heard what happened visited her and asked, “How are you feeling today?” “I don’t think I can live with this. My whole life is ruined and I’m upset with my parents who should’ve allowed me to die!” yelled Ruth. “Don’t take it so hard Ruth your parents love you that’s why they saved you. This is not the end of the world there are a lot of trials and tribulation we are going to face in life but as Christians we have Christ the Messiah to comfort us once we trust in Him” said the pastor. “This pregnancy is my fault I should have said something when I couldn’t find those pills now on top of that I’m going to pay a serious price” said Ruth. “We all make mistakes so as a pastor my word to you is to give up the baby for adoption when it is born and continue with college next year. You will still be young with the whole world ahead of you” said the pastor. “It’s easier said than done pastor all my friends are going to be ahead of me and I hope that I can still do something about this” said Ruth pointing to her belly. “Ruth I hope you’re not thinking what I think you’re thinking please remember that two wrongs cannot make a right and as Christians we can only do what is right. Your pregnancy is halfway there so just hold on a little longer and it will soon be over” said the pastor. Ruth who had never raised her voice to the pastor in her entire life looked at him and said, “Pastor, you’re talking about five more months and it’s unwanted! This baby came about in the most horrific circumstances! Would you really want something like this for your own daughter?” The pastor stood there and looked in Ruth’s eyes and saw her pain and looked away and said, “Sorry if I offended you with my words of advice, whatever you decide to do remember God is watching.” After the pastor finished his last statement Ruth just lay there staring at the ceiling and said nothing more. The pastor said a word of prayer and promised to visit her as often as he could and left.

Shortly after the pastor left, Ruth’s parents came to visit her looking very tired as if they had not slept in a long time. While her father stood silent her mom asked, “Hi, How are you feeling today?” Ruth took a while to answer then broke her silence and said, “I’m in a lot of pain mom, had you just let me die I would not be in this distress today.” Ruth’s mom sat beside her on the bed, hugged her and said, “We love you too much to allow that and we too are in distress. We spoke to pastor and he told us that he will help us to find someone to adopt the baby but it will be up to you.” “Why would it be up to me? I don’t want it and he already knows!” said Ruth. “OK, then adoption is the way to go. But you just have to hang in there till it’s all over,” said mom who whispered the adoption word so that dad would not hear. “I’m not too sure about the hang in there situation,” replied Ruth. Ruth’s parents stayed with her until visiting time was up then they left and promised to return the next day. When they left Ruth was all alone on her back in the hospital bed with her thoughts. The nurses who would check on her from time to time tried to start conversations with her but were never successful. On one of their visit one of the nurses said to the other with a concerned look in her eyes, “I don’t like the look in her eyes, I think we should start checking on her more often I just have a feeling she’s up to something.” “You’re right because I really don’t want anything serious to happen on my watch, it won’t look good on our records,” said the other nurse.